Rahul Sharma's AP Govt Blog

Due Process Rob Porter and others who have been accused of sexual abuse or harassment are not being deprived of their life or their liberty as a result of the allegations made against them. The due process of a court action is often a very complicated and lengthy affair, involving pretrial discovery, witnesses, and a judicial proceeding. T he government cannot charge you with a crime or take other action against you without notifying you of the charges or proposed action. And that you must be given the opportunity to present your side of the story to a neutral fact-finder before action is taken. One fundamental aspect of due process is the requirement that the government hears the other side  whenever any individual, however lowly and unfortunate, asserts a legal claim. Reputable journalists seek confirmation of their stories and solicit a response from the person accused. Due process as a cultural matter is influenced by legal ideas but is really a cluster of fluid no...

Midterm Predictions In a district that President Trump won by 20 percentage points, it is strange that a Democratic candidate won by a large margin.  Democratic swing is the difference between the special election result and the district’s partisan lean.  Alabama's US Senate special election has had the largest Democratic swing.  Republicans trail Democrats by only 8 or 9 percentage points on the  generic congressional ballot , which suggests a close race for control of the House this year that only narrowly favors Democrats. By contrast, the 16- or 17-point  average Democratic overperformance in special elections so far suggests a Democratic mega-tsunami. Democrats have a 10-point advantage over Republicans in congressional preference in the 2018 midterm elections. T he state’s Supreme Court  redrew the map  to tamp down partisan gerrymandering, but Lamb still  eked out a victory  over Saccone.  President Donald Trump’s approval ra...

How the 9th Circuit became conservatives’ least favorite court The district court is a trial court within the Ninth Circuit; the appellate court is one step higher on the ladder and oversees all individual districts.  The 9th Circuit has long been  stereotyped as a liberal outlier , prone to left-wing rulings that are frequently reversed by the Supreme Court on appeal.  The Court’s reputation arguably derives from its transformation under President Jimmy Carter. While Carter was the only the fourth president to make no appointments to the Supreme Court, he did appoint 15 people to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and  Carter appointed some of the most liberal judges ever, to any court.  Stephen Reinhardt wrote the Ninth Circuit’s opinion striking down California’s same-sex marriage ban Proposition 8 in 2012, ruled that the Second Amendment doesn’t recognize an individual right to bear arms, and argued that bans on assisted suicide ...

Scott Pruitt is slowly strangling the EPA With Scott Pruitt being in charge of the rule-making process, he can stall and delay implementation. By doing so, Pruitt can effectively shift policy by doing nothing.  Compared to the Obama administration,  the Trump administration launched 30 percent fewer cases and collected about  60 percent fewer fines  in the same period of time.  Now, under Pruitt, t he agency’s enforcement division now has to get  approval from headquarters  before investigating potential violations of environmental regulations, which slows down efforts to catch violators of laws.  Under Pruitt's leadership, the EPA already has tried to roll back at least  19 environmental regulations.  C ritics  say that continuing to make many of these regulations more stringent is regulatory malpractice since these rules are reaching diminishing returns,  costing businesses  and individuals more and more to comply wi...

Quick Shut Down  Congress failing to pass a new  government funding  law before the old one expired led to the government shutdown.  In a shutdown,  Military and law enforcement activities continue.  Social Security  checks still go out. Air traffic controllers still go to work.  However, activities the government has deemed “nonessential” stop.  One point of potential leverage Democrats had over the Republicans is that Democratic votes are needed to fund the government. So, activists argued that Democrats shouldn’t vote for any government funding bill without a DACA deal.  Some Democrats were eager to end the shut down quickly because  keeping the government shut down on behalf of unauthorized immigrants — even the DREAMers — is a political loser. Furthermore, many Democratic senators are facing tough reelections in red states this year and fear being tagged as extremists.   In the funding agreement, the Children's He...

If the vice president and a majority of sitting Cabinet secretaries decide that the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” they put that down in writing and send it to both the speaker of the House and the Senate’s president pro tem. I t takes 9 people to make the vice president the acting president: the vice president and eight cabinet members. If the president disagrees with the VP & cabinet , he can. If he/she does, it would be up to Congress to settle the matter with a vote. A two-thirds majority in both houses would be necessary to keep the vice president in charge. The chaos that followed John F. Kennedy’s assassination spurred Congress to quickly pass the 25th Amendment in 1965 and winning its ratification in the states by 1967. P rior to the 25th Amendment, the VP office was vacant. The original interpretation says you basically can't fill the VP vacancy. The first part of Section 4 of the 25th Amendment is still open to interpret...

The Trump administration decide to end the Voter Fraud  Commission because of the   States’ resistance to the commission. The White House said that “many states have refused to provide the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity with basic information relevant to its inquiry.”  Trump claims that  millions of people voting illegally had cost him the popular vote in the 2016 election. However, there is no evidence to back up his comments. The rate of voter fraud found by a Loyola Law School study was pretty much rare/nonexistent  - 35 total credible accusations between 2000 and 2014 out of  the 800 million ballots  cast in those 15 years.  That represents about 0.000003 alleged cases of fraud for every vote cast Another, more recent investigation  in North Carolina by the State Board of Elections similarly  found  just one — out of nearly 4.8 million total votes in 2016 — credible case of in-person voter fraud...

Looking Ahead to 2018 12 House Republicans and 2 senators have already announced that they will not run for reelection in 2018.  However, only 3 House Democrats and 0 Democratic senators  have announced that they will not run for reelection in 2018.  These retirements are revealing how members of Congress currently view the national political environment; they think there’s a real possibility of a Democratic wave. Some factors behind these decisions to not run for reelection include  President Donald Trump’s  poor approval rating,    sweeping Democratic victories  in Virginia’s recent elections, and t he national political environment.  The elections in "safe red districts" might be more difficult due to the competition amongst Republicans and maybe even Democrats to get those seats, and the national political environment/sweeping Democratic wave.  Open seats are more likely to flip to the other party than are seats where an incum...

Media Coverage of Trump Three observations found about media outlets with a right leaning audience is cited fewer types of sources in their reporting, offered more positive and fewer negative evaluations of President Donald Trump and his administration, and had reporters who were less likely to challenge something the president said than outlets whose audience leans to the left or those with a more evenly distributed audience. Right-leaning sources used fewer sources and focused on the positive aspects of Trump. The left did the complete opposite. Left-leaning outlets are 72% more likely to show negative coverage of Trump. Left leaning and right leaning outlets refuted something said by Trump 15% and 2% of the time, respectively. The five topics that accounted for most of the media coverage about Trump are stories about the president’s political skills (17%), immigration (14%), presidential appointments and nominations (13%), U.S.-Russia relations (13%), a...

When the House of Representatives passed its long-awaited tax overhaul this month, General Electric Co. had a potentially big problem: One part of the bill could cost the conglomerate more than $1 billion in new taxes if it becomes law. GE lobbyists scrambled and won an alternative in the Senate’s version of the tax bill preserving the company’s ability to use those losses when calculating its tax liability. Foreign airlines want a provision included in the Senate bill that would require foreign airlines to pay taxes on income earned on U.S. flights in some cases. Delta Air Lines is lobbying to keep the new tax in the final bill, arguing that it could raise $200 million over a decade. After the bill was debated and voted on in the Senate, the Senate bill passed the committee, and it included language that explicitly permits companies to use their qualified deficits to offset overseas profits. The Senate version also included language that would prev...

The Senate tax plan may come down to Lisa Murkowski. But what does she want? Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and  Sen. Susan Collins of Maine are eyed as potential pitfalls to passing the bill. Lisa Murkowski supports a  stabilization measure.  She told  Roll Call  she would consider voting for the bill if the Senate also passed a bipartisan Obamacare stabilization bill. In response, Republicans added  a provision that could allow oil drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Natural Refuge to try to win over Murkowski.  It has been a long-held dream of Alaska politicians for the revenue it would bring to the state. Murkowski would support the bill with this position because it would be a major victory for her. Murkowski supports Obamacare because Obamacare has worked in her state.  Alaska, the state with the most expensive health care, has seen its uninsured rate  fall  from 18.9 percent to 11.7 percent under the health care law....

A  health care bill  that failed to pass, a  primary election  in Alabama, and a  spat  between the president and sports players  are being covered by major outlets at the same time as Hurricane Maria. Hurricane Maria & Puerto Rico are both mentioned in fewer than 1000 sentences a day, and the hurricanes that hit the mainland US are mentioned in 2000 to 4000 sentences a day. Hurricane Maria & Puerto Rico also get about half the TV coverage that the hurricanes that hit the mainland US did. BBC and CNN mentioned Hurricane Maria the most.  One potential reason for Puerto Rico being treated differently by the media is  Puerto Rico’s status as a territory. More people get their news from TV, and if it is not on TV, many people will not know about it. If the people are not aware, then they will not push the government to do something about Puerto Rico. People will be more worried about the hurricanes that hit the US....

Revolving Door: About half of retiring senators and a third of retiring House members register as lobbyists  7th period         Members of the Senate are more likely to become lobbyists with 87% of retiring Senators becoming lobbyists, compared to the 78% of retiring House Representatives becoming lobbyists.  Congressmen were less likely to become lobbyists in the 1970s and 1980s because  the lobbying industry was not nearly as big then. The real growth of lucrative Washington lobbying started in the 1990s  This research likely underestimate the revolving door due to many  members preferring to not  register , but still do  work that looks very much like lobbying.  I think committee chairmen are more likely to become lobbyists because of the connections and valuable information they have.  The author mentions that registration requirements were "looser" back in the day, meaning that they are stricter now. These strict...

Campaigning doesn't work - general election study    7th period The outreach activity by political campaigns essentially has no impact on voters’ choice of candidate in general elections. While having no impact, campaigns can still make an impact on voters.  Broockman and Kalla studied the 2015 primary and the 2016 election and found that -1.9% of people were actually persuaded by campaign activities close to the election. Actions close to elections are useless, whereas actions months before the election have a legitimate chance of changing someone's mind. Campaign activities have a greater potential to affect primary elections, but not general elections. Broockman and Kalla found that canvassing can boost turnout, primary election persuasion, and persuasion in special elections. From the given data, groups should put more effort into boosting turnout at the end of a race rather than persuading voters earlier on.  Two statewide cases wh...

Free Speech Week Conservatives want to hold "Free Speech Week" at Cal-Berkeley because of they believe it is a  a center of intolerance for conservative views. " A public university's initial response should be to agree to the speaker's request. However, the university is allowed to thong about things first, such as how offensive the speaker is perceived to be and whether or not it will be too disruptive. However, when making the decision, they must be neutral to content. They cannot not grant permission to the speaker just because their message is unpopular. Everyone must be treated without bias to have equal rights of speech. School officials and the group requesting to speak may get in a conflict over money. Many colleges require the speakers to pay additional costs to speak, but some argue that it is too expensive and that limits the First Amendment. Berkley requires their speakers to pay for security to control the climate. Most students of the First A...

Why More than 80 Million Americans Won't Vote on Election Day In the 2012 election, 58.6% of Americans voted, and 84% of registered voters voted. Some states create obstacles for certain groups of voters. An example of an obstacle is early registration. Many people do not pay close attention to the election and get interested a few weeks before the election. However, by that time, it is too late. And not allowing Election Day Voting lowers voter turnout. The most common reason for not voting is the inconvenience of voting due to the lack of interest and other more important obligations.  Your environment and cultural norms also impact voter turnout. For example, if you are college educated and are reasonably affluent, you are more likely to vote. However, if you are a poor immigrant, there is a less social expectation to vote. Having so many elections also lowers the turnout rate because the numerous elections are overwhelming and fatiguing. By skipping one or two elections,...

9 facts that explain DACA, the immigration program Trump is threatening to end Trump was pressured into making a decision about its future on September 5th, one day after Labor Day, because that is the day  a grou p of Republican state officials were set to sue over its constitutionality.  The DREAM Act was intended to benefit  the children who crossed illegally into the US with their parents and prevented them from growing up in a country where they could never become legal residents or citizens because the new laws made it harder for illegal immigrants to become legal residents.  The DREAM Act was stalled, but it would have countered the new citizenship laws and given those children a path to citizenship. However,  DACA, created by Obama in 2012, offered DREAMers a temporary grant of protection from deportation and a permit to work legally in the US. The protections last two years, after which immigrants can apply to renew for them. T o be eligible for DA...

We conservatives champion local power. So we must respect the rights of “blue” cities. The two sides of the argument over sanctuary cities are the Trump Administration and the residents of the cities. The Trump Administration wants to "crack down" on the sanctuary cities.  The disagreements about how to be governed are  growing .  In defense of liberalism,  Chesterton came up with “distributism,” which aimed for decision-making to be taken care of at local levels. This devolution will bring power back to the states. This devolution essentially meant local control of government, with less interference from the federal government.  Devolution of powers is usually associated with conservatives. Nowadays, however, liberals would probably support devolution. When thinking of our current president, it seems logical to devolve and bring power back to the states and away from him. The author uses abortion to bring up the desires of the two groups. Both want a ...

Rahul Sharma, 7th -  Why the ACLU defends white nationalists’ right to protest The ACLU advocates for the guarantee of free speech rights for everyone, even for the bigots. The ACLU has been involved in controversial matters regarding free speech for decades now. The ACLU has protected the free speech rights of the neo-Nazis and even the KKK. Most recently, the ACLU defended the white supremacists in Charlottesville.   From the ACLU's perspective, even hurtful speech that the public does not support should be protected. A few decades ago, some governments promoted racist views, and the public supported that. Overtime however, the public's minds changed.  Now, the ACLU's argument is that  governments should  never  be allowed to restrict free speech based on its content. Everyone has a voice and should have an equal opportunity to express their opinions. The views of the white supremacists in Charlottesville are not supported by the public, but th...